Supporting Wellbeing in the Workplace During a Pandemic

Living a rich, full and meaningful life even in a pandemic

The Challenge during the Pandemic

COVID-19 has presented many challenges within the workplace. The most pressing issue for employers is to safeguard their most important assist - their people.

This pandemic has changed life for everyone.  We have all experienced loss both personally and professionally – for some it might be the loss of a loved one, for others it might be the loss of routines and the familiarity of the world as it was, not being able to meet family members and friends, get away on holiday or go into the office every day and interact with colleagues.

Many may be feeling overwhelmed, depressed, anxious or burnt out and over time have developed unhealthy behaviours such as increased alcohol consumption, excessive eating or lashing out at family, friends or work colleagues to numb these feelings.

A Healthy Workplace

The World Health Organisation (WHO) define a healthy workplace as “one in which workers and managers collaborate to use a continual improvement process to protect and promote the health, safety and well- being of all workers and the sustainability of the workplace by considering the following, based on identified needs:

• health and safety concerns in the physical work environment;
• health, safety and well-being concerns in the psychosocial work environment including organization of work and workplace culture;
• personal health resources in the workplace (support and encouragement of healthy lifestyles by the employer);
• ways of participating in the community to improve the health of workers, their families and members of the community”.

Mental Health Facts

Even before the pandemic hit the facts relating to mental health were shocking: 

Source: WHO

The Cost of Workplace ill Health to the Business

Workplace ill health costs organisations in terms of :

• Absence
• Accidents and injuries
• Lack of job commitment
• Burnout
• Workplace conflict
• Decreased productivity and quality

Julie Allen Consulting provide both webinars and coaching to help improve the wellbeing of groups or individuals.

Supporting Wellbeing in the Workplace Webinars

Our four one hour webinars are designed to develop individuals get in touch with what matters most, understand their response to their thoughts and feelings and develop helpful behaviours to improve wellbeing and life a rich, full and meaningful life even during a pandemic.

During the four one hour webinars we teach individuals to use the ACT Matrix, created by Dr. Kevin Polk.  The ACT is an evidenced-based approach for improving employee's general wellbeing and psychological flexibility.

Psychological flexibility is noticing what works for an individual to live the life that they want to live even in the presence of obstacles.This is very important to our emotional fitness and mental nimbleness.

The latest research supports promoting psychological flexibility as the cornerstone of psychological health and wellbeing.

Julie is a trained and experienced ACT trainer and is a certified ACT Matrix Facilitator.

The ACT Matrix is based on research and the science with numerous studies demonstrating that participants benefit from:

•  Improved general wellbeing and psychological flexibility
•  Improved performance and productivity
•  Increased job satisfaction and motivation
•  Reduced stress and anxiety
•  Increased innovation and problem solving
•  Reduced absenteeism

We can use the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS) and the Workplace and the work-related acceptance and action questionnaire (WAAQ) to measure the groups general wellbeing and psychological flexibility before and after the programme.

Each programme we have run has improved both the general wellbeing and psychological flexibility of the group.

Modules

Module 1: Wakening up

Module 2: The stuff that gets in the way

Module 3: Noticing the difference

Module 4: The shared purpose

We use validated tools to measure the success of a programme.

"I would highly recommend this programme not only as a way to support the individual physical and mental well-being of employees but also as a great team-building and bonding experience." Tory Kerley, Synergy Learning

There’s more about ACT here and a review of the growing evidence base here .

The Package: Four one hour webinars provided via Crowdcast for £1,600 plus VAT

Coaching 

Learning to use of the ACT Matrix can also be provided in a coaching setting. Four one hour coaching sessions can be offered to individuals to help support them with specific issues they may be dealing with.

The Package: Four one hour coaching sessions for £800 plus VAT.

What the research says about Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT) in the workplace